One might say that a Columbus native and his soap company business partners hope to clean up Friday before potential investors on the ABC television show “Shark Tank.”
The program gives entrepreneurs the opportunity to pitch their companies to a panel of top-tier executives and billionaire investors for a chance to land investment deals.
“We’re super-pumped,” said Anthony Duncan, speaking by phone from the company’s Bloomington office. “And we’re hoping for a rush of orders.”
Duncan, a 30-year-old Columbus native and Jennings County High School graduate, and Chicago brothers Mohammed M. Mahdi, 36, and 30-year-old Mohammed A. Mahdi, are co-founders of The Mad Optimist. They will pitch the company’s all-natural, fully customizable body care products during the 8 p.m. episode taped earlier in Los Angeles.
The business offers fully customizable soap, lip balms, bath soaks, and spray mists. Customers can personalize everything from scents and exfoliants to product names and label designs using The Mad Optimist’s online customizing tool. Made in their 5,000-square-foot facility, all Mad Optimist products are vegan, non-GMO, animal-cruelty-free, and sustainably sourced.
The fact that most traditional soaps contain animal fat became the inspiration for producing something different eight years ago for the trio who became friends at Indiana University.
“As Muslims and vegans, we don’t eat meat and hated the idea of cleaning our bodies with animal fat,” they wrote on their website at themadoptimist.com.
But they loved the idea of creating something different. Their original business launched as the Soapy Soap Company before they changed it to its current name.
They applied eight months ago to be on the well-known TV show — one so popular that some online oddsmakers say that actually making it onto an episode among some 45,000 annual applicants is about as likely as being accepted to both Yale and Harvard.
“It’s been an anxiety-producing several months,” Duncan said.
He referred to more than just waiting for word from show organizers. He meant keeping the company financially healthy with strong sales expanding far beyond Indiana, where it has built a customer base at places such as the downtown Columbus Farmers Market.
“We had kind of run into a ceiling after being accepted locally,” Duncan said. “It was looking a bit rocky there. We were trying to figure out what we should do, and what our next steps should be,” Duncan said.
They already know one next step: They will donate all revenue from orders between 8 and 11:59 pm. Friday to a range of causes and charities, since giving is a big part of their faith and their company.
“A lot of our business practices are rooted in Islam,” said Mohammed M. Mahdi.
That includes reaching even the financially struggling with their products. The trio includes sliding-scale pricing as part of what the owners call their “humanifesto.” And they’re so open and transparent that they include their monthly sales total right on the website.
Currently, the company is growing, with four new positions open.
Plus, for now, they’re hoping for something else opening up bigger than ever: their future.
